Higher Education

Higher education facilities executives are rightly focused on the needs of students, faculty, and administrators, but what about prospective students and their parents? Targeting facility and campus improvements to boost the campus tour experience has a positive impact on recruitment, enrollment, and retention. A formal evaluation process—resulting in a detailed scorecard and a set of recommendations presented in the form of a prioritization matrix—might enhance the all-important first impressions and intangibles that are impossible to quantify.

Arizona State University opened the $120 million Biodesign Institute Building C in September of 2018 in Tempe. Designed by ZGF Architects and BWS Architects, the five-story, 191,000-sf project features wet labs for chemistry, engineering, and biological sciences arranged in collaborative neighborhoods.

Western Colorado University began construction in September of 2018 on the 75,000-sf Rady School of Computer Science and Engineering in Gunnison. Created in partnership with the University of Colorado and funded by a donation of $80 million, the facility will provide sophisticated instrumentation suites, laboratories, classrooms, lecture halls, collaboration spaces, faculty offices, and a central gallery with a canted glass curtainwall. Farnsworth Group is providing architectural, MEP, structural, and landscape design services.

Johns Hopkins Medicine opened the $95 million All Children's Education and Research Facility in September of 2018 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Designed by HDR, the 225,000-sf project provides advanced simulation training suites, research labs, instructional spaces, administrative offices, a biorepository, and a 400-seat auditorium.

Texas A&M University opened the $228 million Zachry Engineering Education Complex in September of 2018 in College Station. Designed by TreanorHL, the project included renovation of the existing building and construction of an addition to provide 526,000 sf of collaborative teaching and research space. The complex houses the Fischer Engineering Design Center, technology-rich learning studios, offices, and interdisciplinary open labs.

Newcastle University broke ground in September of 2018 on the £39 million Teaching and Learning Building in the United Kingdom. Accommodating programs in sports and exercise science, human nutrition, psychology, and medical education, the six-story, 97,000-sf interdisciplinary facility will feature a 300-seat lecture hall, social learning spaces, seminar rooms, clinical suites, collaboration areas, and academic and postgraduate offices. The project team includes GSS Architecture and Clugston Construction.

Rutgers University opened the $115 million Chemistry and Chemical Biology Building in September of 2018 in Piscataway, N.J. Designed by Flad Architects to promote multidisciplinary collaboration, the four-story, 144,000-sf facility offers core facilities including a microscopy suite, a Class 100 chemistry cleanroom, and labs for optical spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography.

The University of Toronto spent $153 million (USD) to rehabilitate 47 percent of its total research space, a move that is favored by the Canadian government as a viable alternative to building new facilities. It is estimated that constructing new buildings to replace this amount of the university’s aging research facilities would have cost approximately $494 million.

The Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine opened in Meridian in September 2018. Created in partnership with Idaho State University, the three-story, 94,000-sf facility features a technology-rich clinical simulation center, a 3,500-sf medical library, and a 3,479-sf Osteopathic Manipulation Medicine (OMM) lab. The building also provides two 250-seat lecture halls and 12 Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) rooms.

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point opened the $75 million Chemistry Biology Building in September of 2018. The four-story, 176,500-sf facility was designed by HOK and Potter Lawson to put science on display and provides 58 research and teaching labs. The building offers flexible instructional spaces for STEM programs including two 98-seat lecture halls, three 48-seat classrooms, and two 24-seat classrooms.

Northern Kentucky University opened the $105 million Health Innovation Center in Highland Heights in September of 2018. Designed by CO Architects and GBBN Architects, the 108,179-sf interdisciplinary facility provides the College of Health Professions with advanced classrooms, laboratories, and offices. The building houses the College of Health Professions, the Institute for Health Innovation, the Institute for Student Research and Creative Activity, and the two-story St. Elizabeth Simulation Center.

The University of California, Irvine broke ground in September of 2018 on the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building. Designed by LMN Architects to promote cross-disciplinary collaboration, the six-story, 204,750-sf facility will house the Samueli School of Engineering, the Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Science, and the School of Physical Sciences.

At the University of Minnesota, a renovation/construction project to add science space required detailed integration with the campus district plan, as well as preservation of historic features. The result was enhanced physical connectivity on campus, a careful blending of older and new construction, and improved energy performance. Tate Hall is one of 260 structures on the main Twin Cities campus, which is so large that planners have divided it into districts for planning purposes. The urban campus straddles the Mississippi River, and Tate, a horseshoe-shaped building first constructed in 1926, sat largely empty, as most of the physics department had recently moved to a new research building.

Pennsylvania State University is planning a $17.3 million renovation and expansion of Pattee Library in University Park. The project includes the infill of an existing courtyard to provide a two-story enclosed atrium with a connecting stair, with administrative offices for the Library Learning Services and three Digital Scholarship and Data Services units located on upper floors.

Oregon Health & Science University opened the $190 Knight Cancer Institute in September of 2018 on the South Waterfront Campus in Portland. Designed by SRG Partnership to foster multidisciplinary collaboration, the seven-story, 320,000-sf facility provides biomedical laboratories, administrative offices, interaction hubs, core labs, a 200-seat auditorium, and space for clinical trials. Featuring an integrated balance of wet and dry research spaces, the building accommodates programs in computational biology, early cancer detection, and immuno-oncology.